{"id":74424,"date":"2026-06-23T04:57:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T04:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/safaricom-teams-with-chainalysis-as-ai-hunts-payments-linked-to-illegal-wildlife-trade\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T04:57:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T04:57:35","slug":"safaricom-teams-with-chainalysis-as-ai-hunts-payments-linked-to-illegal-wildlife-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/safaricom-teams-with-chainalysis-as-ai-hunts-payments-linked-to-illegal-wildlife-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Safaricom Teams With Chainalysis as AI Hunts Payments Linked to Illegal Wildlife Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Safaricom, Google, and Meta joined a United for Wildlife taskforce in 2024 to crush illegal trafficking.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">AI will monitor M-Pesa to disrupt a $23B illicit market that puts 1M species at risk of extinction.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Next, British Airways and Heathrow will launch public campaigns to tighten the net on global smugglers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Squeezing the Financial Flows<\/h2>\n<p>Kenyan telecom giant Safaricom has joined forces with a coalition of international technology, payments, and <span>cryptocurrency<\/span> firms to dismantle the financial networks driving the illegal wildlife trade. The initiative was announced at a recent event convened by Prince William and The Royal Foundation\u2019s United for Wildlife taskforce.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/nation.africa\/kenya\/business\/-safaricom-joins-tech-crypto-firms-to-help-tackle-illegal-wildlife-trade-5504486\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report<\/a>, the coalition brings together technology giants, including Google, Meta, Tiktok, and Alibaba. The companies have committed to completely eradicating wildlife trafficking from their platforms using <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/beyond-ai-detection-brevis-unveils-system-to-cryptographically-verify-media-origins\/\">artificial intelligence (AI)-driven detection<\/a> and prevention systems to catch illicit listings before sales take place.<\/p>\n<p>While social media and e-commerce platforms focus on front-end listings, the battle is simultaneously moving to the financial back-end. Illegal wildlife trafficking is an extensively lucrative enterprise, with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unep.org\/news-and-stories\/story\/three-ways-united-nations-environment-programme-works-address-illegal-trade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> estimating<\/a> it generates up to $23 billion annually. It is a driving factor behind putting an estimated one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction.<\/p>\n<p>To sever these financial lifelines, Safaricom\u2014alongside its parent companies Vodafone and Vodacom\u2014will deploy AI within its anti-money laundering (AML) and transaction monitoring systems. The AI will be integrated across M-Pesa, Africa\u2019s leading mobile money platform, to flag and disrupt <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/chinese-money-laundering-networks-funneled-16-1-billion-in-crypto-in-2025\/\">suspicious transactions<\/a> linked to poaching and trafficking syndicates.<\/p>\n<p>Concurrently, mainstream payment processors and major <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/a-quick-introduction-to-crypto\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cryptocurrency<\/a> analytics firms\u2014including Paypal, Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and Luno\u2014have pledged to use <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-is-a-blockchain\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blockchain<\/a> tracking and advanced digital forensics to hunt down and expose cross-border <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/a-quick-introduction-to-crypto\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">crypto<\/a> wallets and alternative payment pathways used by wildlife smugglers.<\/p>\n<p>The urgent need for digital and financial intervention is underscored by the historic devastation of Africa\u2019s iconic megafauna, most notably the white rhinoceros. The species serves as a stark warning of how rapidly unregulated, criminal markets can push an animal to the absolute brink of extinction.<\/p>\n<p>While intensive, century-long conservation efforts successfully revived the Southern White Rhino population to around 17,000, a resurgence in organized poaching over the last two decades has threatened to undo those gains. Rhino horn, which is composed of keratin (the same protein found in human hair and fingernails), has been sold on the black market for up to $60,000 per kilogram\u2014making it more valuable by weight than <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/bitcoin-vs-gold\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gold<\/a> or cocaine.<\/p>\n<p>This immense profit margin shifted poaching from localized hunting to highly organized, transnational crime syndicates. By cutting off the modern payment infrastructure used by these syndicates, the new coalition aims to ensure other vulnerable species do not suffer the same fate.<\/p>\n<h2>A Unified Front<\/h2>\n<p>The private sector\u2019s massive, coordinated pivot marks a turning point in environmental corporate responsibility, moving past standard non-profit donations toward deploying core tech architecture against criminal networks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we see from the private sector today is a recognition that the illegal wildlife trade is both an environmental and a business issue,\u201d said David Fein, co-chair of United for Wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>Supporting the digital crackdown on the ground and in the skies, aviation leaders British Airways and Heathrow Airport also announced they will launch expansive public awareness campaigns to help travelers identify and report suspected wildlife products, tightening the net on smugglers globally.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/safaricom-teams-with-chainalysis-as-ai-hunts-payments-linked-to-illegal-wildlife-trade\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways Safaricom, Google, and Meta joined a United for Wildlife taskforce in 2024 to crush illegal trafficking. AI will monitor M-Pesa to disrupt a $23B illicit market that puts 1M species at risk of extinction. Next, British Airways and Heathrow will launch public campaigns to tighten the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":74425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}